Lessons in Camaraderie
by aruyo
Summary: Two girls go shopping for the sake of friendly bonding, with predictable results. But miracles can happen, right?


**Lessons in Camaraderie. **

Two girls go shopping for the sake of friendly bonding, with predictable results. But miracles can happen, right?

* * *

It all started when Misato asked her to bond with Rei.

Asuka was not a bonding person. She really wasn't. It was due in equal parts to the fact that one, she was terrible at it, and two, she had no interest in it. Well, two might have just been a consequence of one, but the fact remained: Asuka was not in any way interested in bonding with that weirdo.

That is, she wasn't interested in it until Misato offered cash and a shopping trip. Damn it. When, exactly, had she let her weaknesses become so obvious? Misato had no qualms about exploiting them, that much was pretty damn clear.

"Can't you just give me the money and I'll promise to bond with her some other time?" She pleaded after the concept of shopping had gradually evolved in her mind into shopping with _Rei_. But Misato had been adamant that she wouldn't allow Asuka to drag her feet.

"You never know when something bad will happen," she said firmly. "You and Rei need to be prepared to have each other's backs. Besides, it would do you some good to go out with another girl."

Asuka tried to point out that she had gone to see a movie with Hikari just last week, but her guardian wouldn't budge. And so it was that Asuka Shikinami found herself walking into an overly air-conditioned mall with one Rei Ayanami. And so it was that Asuka Shikinami also felt more irritated than she ever had on any other shopping trip in memory. The only comfort was the cash she could nearly _feel_ in her purse.

Rei, for her part, hadn't needed any such coercion. All Misato had to do was ask, and she had accepted. It was so typical of the girl that Asuka almost gagged, especially when Misato gave her an hour's lecture on how she could do well by being more like Rei. If Asuka ever became more like that uninteresting, reticent girl, she was sure that she might need someone to crush her under her own Eva's foot.

On the whole train ride here, Rei hadn't said more than five words. Three of them being, "Hello, Shikinami Asuka." The other two were an insincere apology when Asuka had chastised her for wearing her school uniform out in public, even though they had no school today. Honestly, she was hopeless.

"Ugh, this is disgusting," Asuka mumbled when they entered the building. Rei said nothing.

The mall here was hardly a mall, at least by Asuka's standards. It was little more than a collection of twenty or thirty different stores, none of which particularly interesting to Asuka. In fact, the only place she could even bring herself to walk in was a small boutique pushed to the very edge of the building.

Misato had given her eight thousand yen. She was determined to spend at _least_ that much.

"Come on," she muttered to Rei, foregoing the pointless task of asking the girl if she wanted to come along. Clearly Rei was not the fashion type. Not that Asuka even knew what type she was; the girl was a mystery to almost everyone, and Asuka was no different. Rei followed along obediently as Asuka stalked into the shop, satisfied when the bell at the door noisily announced her arrival.

"Good afternoon, Miss, how may I help you?" A shopkeeper asked cheerfully. Asuka waved her off. She knew what to do. If there were two things she knew how to do, it was piloting an Eva, and shopping.

She immediately gravitates towards the center displays, walking slowly around and inspecting each and every blouse, skirt, or shoe that she found there. Only midway through her examination of one particular pair of shorts did she notice that Rei was standing a marginal distance behind her. She turned.

"You can go look on your own," she said. "We have eight thousand yen, and Misato said that I have to split it with you. Go find a couple shirts or something."

Rei blinked. "I have no interest in purchasing any clothing."

"Predictable," Asuka muttered beneath her breath. Rei didn't hear, or if she did, she never let on. Asuka sighed. "Well, whatever. Just don't bug me while I look, would you?"

Without another word, Rei ducked out of sight. Asuka exhaled, turning back to the shorts. She gripped them tightly. What was with that girl, anyways? Even overlooking the idea that she didn't even seem vaguely interested in shopping, even with all of the beautiful clothes around her, she was always so quiet and _weird_. It was impossible to say anything to her.

Asuka clenched her fist at her side. Well, she wasn't going to let it ruin the day for her. She spent the better part of the next thirty minutes ardently looking through every rack, every display, and stubbornly avoiding the china-pale girl who sat staring blankly at the wall just on the other side of the room.

Who needed her?

She found several items, none of which particularly wowed her. There was a dress that was kind of cute, and a couple pairs of shorts, but they all looked too small even in the sizes that she knew she fit in back in Germany. It was typical of Japan, she thought distastefully. Everything here was too damn _small_. Still, she figured, it might work with a sweater. Without looking, she grabbed one of the shelf.

It was only then, armed with an armful of clothes, that Asuka approached Rei and wordlessly handed the girl her purse. She stared her obstinately in the eye.

"I'm going to go try these on," she said. That was it. Rei blinked back at her, something Asuka took to mean that she understood. Satisfied, she departed for the dressing rooms.

Of course, Asuka realized when she got there that they were a little small for her tastes, and they all had only one mirror, a bench, and one hook for clothes. It was almost insulting. All of the dressing rooms in Germany were at least twice this size, and they had mirrors on all sides.

Still, she supposed that it would have to do. Maybe she could pull some strings and have a decent dressing room built somewhere in this mall, just for her. Certainly she knew the right people.

For now, though, it was time to try on clothes.

She slipped the dress on over her head. As she suspected, it was a little tight around the shoulders. And the bust, for that matter. What a pity, it was so cute. She sighed and tossed it to the floor. She knew that they might have her size somewhere in the store, but she didn't feel like going through all the trouble. The dress wasn't _that_ nice. She had an old one back home that looked almost exactly like it.

She went through three pairs of shorts, only one of which satisfied her tastes, and a couple shirts that were all hideous. Asuka huffed. She sure as hell wasn't going to go home with just one pair of shorts. All she had left, however, was a single sweater. It was certainly cute, though. Soft texture, nice pattern. It would do. She held it at arm's length for a moment, inspecting it closely. Yeah, it would do.

She slipped it over her shoulders for a test. It fit nicely over her shoulders, and it wasn't too constricting. She swept the ends of her hair out from under the collar and turned to examine herself in the mirror.

"A perfect fit," she mumbled, watching herself intently. Very rarely did Asuka come across anything that he liked immediately. After a few more moments spent watching herself strike poses in the mirror, she finally slipped the garment off and put her own clothes back on. Collecting the sweater and shorts in her arms and leaving the other clothes in heaps on the floor, she exited the changing room.

Now she had to find Rei. Asuka grimaced at the chore. Why did Misato force her to take that girl again? They didn't even like each other. Now she'd have to spend the next couple minutes searching for her…

But that was not the case. She arrived back at the display, and lo and behold, Rei stood in the exact same spot that she had been when Asuka had left. She didn't look like she had moved a centimeter, in fact. Had she been? Asuka flushed at the idea of Rei standing there in her ridiculous school uniform for the past ten minutes. Was she even capable of acting normally, or was this just a Japanese custom?

The girl watched Asuka approach her coolly, eyes falling to the bags in her companion's hands.

"Are you going to buy that."

Asuka's eyes narrowed. It wasn't the question that bothered her so much as the fact that it didn't _sound_ like a question, not even close. Rei's voice lacked any inflection at all, making everything she said sound so damn bland and reticent that it made Asuka annoyed beyond words. Tetchily, she nodded.

"Well obviously if I brought it out I'd want to buy it. And what about you?"

"About me," Rei repeated flatly. Asuka rolled her eyes. The nerve!

"Have you been standing there this entire time in your school uniform? I told you that you shouldn't have worn that thing. It's a Sunday, you know. Haven't people been staring at you?"

"I have not noticed people staring," Rei replied. Asuka scoffed and snatched her purse back.

"Whatever. I'm going to go buy these. Just wait here, I guess."

She felt Rei watch her depart with that same calm gaze. It made her sick just thinking about it. She had no idea what that idiot Shinji saw in her. She didn't have any will of her own. She just did whatever other people told her to, and she never even considered what other people might think. It was just so annoying! Asuka felt her fingernails dig little crescents into her palms as she arrived at the counter, setting the dress and shorts down in a huff. The employee manning it looked at her worriedly.

"Miss, are you alright? You look a little upset…"

"Look, did I ask you to give me therapy?" Asuka snapped, her eyes dangerously narrow. She shoved the clothes impatiently forward. "Just ring these up and spare me, would you?"

The cashier gave her a wary look, but did what she asked nonetheless. Asuka tapped her foot petulantly against the floor, already feeling way more annoyed than was reasonable.

She couldn't help that everyone around her was such a big idiot. No one ever did anything right. It was like she had to do everything! And she had had it with Japanese customs. The clothes, the manners, the passiveness. It was driving her _insane_. She slapped the money on the table and swiped the bag from the employee without a second thought when he offered it to her, dashing toward the exit.

"Miss, don't you want your change? Miss!"

Without a word, Asuka forcibly grabbed Rei's hand on the way out and dragged her along. Predictably, the other girl didn't put up any fight. She didn't even ask what happened. She just allowed herself to be tugged along, and if she felt Asuka's fingers clamp more tightly around her wrist than they should have, she said nothing. This just made Asuka grab harder, hard enough to leave bruises. She dragged Rei out of the mall this way, attracting more than a few odd looks.

_Pushovers, all of them. No one here has a spine but me. Ingrates! _

Before they even managed to get to the train, it started pouring rain.

* * *

"Damnit! Since when was it supposed to rain today? That wasn't in the forecast!"

The train made its last stop at Rei's apartment building, and since there was no way Asuka was going to walk all the way home in that deluge, she decided to follow the other girl in and just call Misato to pick her up. It would be easier, and besides, they were both soaking wet by then. It was only thanks to the plastic bag her clothes were contained in that they remained dry.

Her shoes made an annoying squeaking sound as they both climbed the steps to the apartment. Asuka's nose wrinkled. While Rei seemed perfectly fine with the rain, as she often did about most things, Asuka was none too pleased with the sudden change in weather. She had been wearing her favorite white dress with a pair of her more colorful undergarments, and the entire train ride home she had been forced to deal with a bunch of perverts trying to snap pictures in secret. It was disgusting.

They finally arrived at Rei's door after what seemed like ages of climbing, and the girl wasted no time in producing her key and opening it. She allowed Asuka in first before gently closing the door behind them.

"I'll make tea," she said. It wasn't an offer. She gestured for Asuka to sit down while she did so, and while Asuka really wasn't too keen on accepting orders from _her_, her legs were too tired to disobey.

Without further ado, she collapsed on Rei's bed, listening to the sounds of the girl preparing their tea intermingled with the gentle patter of rain on the roof. A shiver ran through her as the cold dampness of the evening finally hit her. It was only after several minutes that she gained the strength to look up.

Asuka had never been to Rei's apartment before, nor had she ever wanted to. Now that she was here, she was rather unimpressed. It was tiny, only a little bigger than the room Asuka took up back at Misato's. Furnished only by a dresser, a bed, a sparse collection of kitchen appliances, and a single chair, it seemed bare and uninviting. There was little indication that anyone actually lived there.

In fact, just by being in that room, Asuka felt suddenly and inexplicably lonely, and despite her usual sensibilities, she had to wonder if Rei ever felt the same way. She _had_ to, didn't she?

Her train of thought was interrupted when she noticed one pale hand holding out a delicate, chipped teacup for her. Asuka took the cup, but her eyes caught on the nasty bruise that was forming on the pale, pale wrist. It looked ugly, and it took a moment for it to sink in that it was her doing.

"Th-Thank you," she said, her fingers curling around the hot cup as an unpleasant feeling curled in her stomach. Rei nodded politely, going to sit on the opposite end of the bed with her own cup. A blanket of silence fell over them as Rei sipped sparingly at her tea, while Asuka's remained untouched. Thunder rumbled, loud and ominous, outside, and it almost gave Asuka that impression that the sky was trying to shake the earth of its buildings. She stared blankly at her cup.

"You should drink," Rei spoke. Asuka blinked, snapped out of her trance. Rei's face was impassive as always, but her voice was steady. "Otherwise you will catch a cold."

Asuka, for a moment, was speechless. Very few people ever expressed concern for her as long as her piloting ability was not in jeopardy. Misato, Kaji, and Shinji, maybe, were the only ones who had ever bothered to go down that road with her. Asuka's mind flashed with the images of the bruises, her callous attitude throughout the day, and the bag that lay at the foot of the bed. Her breath hitched.

"Why should you care?" She demanded, rising to her feet. "Why should you even care if I get a cold? You don't owe me anything! You have nothing to gain from it. I've done nothing but hurt you all day, and don't even try to deny it, so _why_? Why do _you_ give a damn what happens to me?"

In the silence that followed, Asuka heard a wild, uncontrollable shaking noise. She panicked, wondering if it was an Angel that decided to catch them off guard, until she realized that it was her teacup chattering against its plate. Her hands were shaking. Mortified, she stared down at them, as if willing them to calm, but nothing happened. She jolted when Rei's hands covered her own.

"Wha-"

"We are both Evangelion pilots," Rei said quietly. Her hands were cold and clammy from the rain, but somehow, they felt comforting at the same time. And somehow, that scared Asuka more than anything else.

"We are both Evangelion pilots," Rei repeated slowly. Asuka forced herself not to look at the bruises, but instead into her eyes. She was surprised to see the slightest bit of sincerity in them. "Therefore," Rei continued unabashedly, "there is nothing wrong with concerning myself with your well-being."

Asuka somehow found it in herself to snort. "You sound just like that idiot Shinji."

Rei gave no reply, but Asuka wasn't looking for one. She exhaled, her shoulders slumping inward, and sat back down on the bed. Rei released her hands and went back to her own side.

"Drink your tea," she said once more. "You'll feel better."

Asuka looked back down at the cup in her hand, which was less hot and more warm by now. She saw her wavering reflection, looking so small and pathetic. Sighing, she lifted the cup up to her lips and took a long drink. It tasted really shitty, because clearly Rei was no accustomed to brewing beverages for people other than herself, but she found that Rei was actually right. She _did_ feel better.

"Rei?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

For a moment, there was silence once more.

"…You're welcome."

* * *

Eventually, Asuka did get around to calling Misato. Of course, by that point it was nearly dusk, and the other woman sounded furious with her on the other end. Asuka accepted the tongue lashing without complaint, for once, because she recognized that it really was her fault for taking so long.

Maybe it was this rare show of humility, or maybe Misato was just feeling generous, but the older woman did accept her apology after only several minutes of chastisement and told her that she was on her way.

Neither girl spoke a word after their last exchange. Asuka sat on the edge of Rei's bed, fiddling with her bag and staring absently out the window. It was no longer raining outside, and the clouds had parted to reveal at least a little of the sunset.

Rei, meanwhile, busied herself with cleaning the cups and straightening things. Asuka contemplated helping her, but her legs felt too heavy for some reason.

While they had somehow, against all odds, achieved the ultimate goal of _bonding_, Asuka still had a bitter taste in her mouth every time she remembered the bruises. She often got physical with others, but rarely did it actually have many consequences.

The entire incident left her feeling vile, which was new to her. Rei made no comment, as usual, and seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the bruises were even there, but Asuka still felt twelve different kinds of awful.

She was unaccustomed to feeling this way, and she was surprised that it almost felt like a physical illness. It was horrid.

It was _guilt._

Asuka grimaced when it came to her, slouching inward. She wracked her brain thinking of ways to make the feeling go away. It wasn't very often that she felt guilty about anything. Almost unconsciously, her eyes fell to Rei, who walked almost mechanically about her apartment.

Despite the one small breakthrough they had shared, the girl was still a complete enigma. How could she make something up to someone when that someone wasn't even aware there was an issue?

Just as Misato's car pulled up in the front of the building, it came to her.

Jumping to her feet, she collected her purse and bag quickly. Rei watched on with only the vaguest interest. Her eyes were subtly nonplussed. Unperturbed, Asuka dug into her bag and, feeling her fingers graze what she was looking for, she pulled it out.

Needless to say, Rei was further confused when a sweater was stuffed into her arms. She looked at Asuka, blinking.

"What is-"

"Never mind that," Asuka replied tetchily, waving off the question. "Just- It's a gift, okay? Misato would be angry if she knew that I just bought myself something, so you keep it. Besides, you need something to wear besides that ridiculous school uniform and your plugsuit, anyways."

Before Rei could respond, Asuka was out the door and dashing down the steps, wary of making Misato late.

It didn't entirely erase the guilt, sure, but her steps felt just a little lighter as she pushed the door of the stairwell open, jogging towards Misato's car. She hopped in without a word, expecting Misato to give her hell, but the older woman she sighed.

"I'm sure I should be asking what you've been up to, but I doubt I'd want to hear it. Did you at least try to bond with each other like I asked?"

Asuka snorted. "Please. Me and her? It's good that you tried and everything, Misato, but you're not too in touch with reality."

"I figured you would say that," Misato sighed. Asuka smiled to herself as they left the parking lot, looking up towards Rei's window. It could have been her imagination, but she thought that she saw the girl looking down. And Rei was smiling, too.

* * *

**alllll of the warm and fluffy feelings for you, my lovelies.**

**adore this series, I really do. I'm kind of biased with my pairings though. but this is platonic. mostly.**

**reviews would be nice.**


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